Area school officials discuss security updates

EAST CALN – After the Safe Schools Summit on Jan. 31, Downingtown Area School Board members are looking at changes to school security measures, with special attention on preventing school shootings.

The summit, which began with an audio recording of a 911 call during the Columbine School shooting, was attended by school districts from throughout Chester County, and was organized by the Chester County Intermediate Unit.

The summit aimed to encourage safe school environments and collaboration between schools and community law enforcement partners, and educate about best practices.

“I think it was very good for all of us,” said board member Robert Yorczyk. “We are trying to find out what we should do now. We want to make sure we do what we need to do. This was extremely helpful. I know in Downingtown, we have taken some of the information they gave us and are trying to look at security from different angles.”

The district is now planning on creating a special committee that would determine needed security audits throughout the district. The committee would at least be composed of administrators and board members.

“We have a lot of work cut out for us,” said Yorczyk.

According to District Superintendent Lawrence Mussoline, the fact most impressed during the summit was the need for substantial specialty training in responding to school shootings or similar attacks on schools.

“That training is going to be the key to mitigating horrific incidents,” said Mussoline. “There are groups out there that can help schools with assessments of their facilities to (help us) do the best we can, and to make the schools as safe as we can.”

School board member Suzanne Simonelli, whose two children attend the STEM Academy and Lionville Middle School, said she found the summit informative but disturbing.

Hogan “covered a lot of things that are jarring for people to hear but they were things that you need to hear,” said Simonelli. “You have to be vigilant. We want to put as many obstacles in front of someone as we can while maintaining the day-to-day safety of our students. It broadened our horizons.”

Chester County District Attorney Tom Hogan, who was one of the presenters at the summit, said that there is a group working inside the Chester County law enforcement community that is working on standardized protocols throughout the county for all schools and law enforcement.

According to Hogan, 97 percent of shooters in school shootings or other active shootings were males between the ages of 15 to 19 and 35 to 44. These age groups make it difficult to prevent incidents since the individuals in those groups are either part of the school population, either as students or parents.

“There is a slim chance that anything like this could happen in Chester County, but as long as there is any chance that this could happen, we have to be prepared,” said Hogan.

Hogan’s suggestions to schools included preparation and planned responses that ought to be practiced by faculty and students, screening visitors entering schools, camera surveillance, patrol units that are either full or part time, and establishing a second form of instant and redundant communication between the administration and teachers.

Simonelli said that as a parent she felt secure about the safety of the students at Downingtown after the Newtown incident.

“We’ve got as close to ideal as we’re going to get,” said Simonelli.

Thomas Ost-Prisco, school board member and Assistant District Attorney, said that the summit was an important first step towards cooperation between schools and law enforcement.

“It gives all the stakeholders — the school board members, the administrators and the law enforcement community — the tools that they need to understand the problem and point us in the right direction to addressing this problem,” said Ost-Prisco.